Santo 28, Mart 7 — Colt Bridges ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Jaxon Rice ranf or 52 yards and two scores to lift the Wildcats to a three-touchdown win over the Panthers.
Santo (6-1, 3-0), which ran for 273 of its 312 total yards, also got 39 yards and a TD pass from Rylan Griffith to Dillan Branham in stretching a 21-0 halftime lead to 28-0 in the fourth quarter.
Mason 47, San Saba 0 — The Punchers dominated the Armadillos from start to finish, building a 33-0 halftime lead on their way to a thorough victory.
Mason (2-0 in district) followed a 14-point first quarter with 19 points in the second to take control by the break on the way to its seventh straight win to open the season.
Ballinger 34, Colorado City 14 — Malachi Bentley ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns, and Wyatt Clemens passed for 190 yards and ran for 30 yards and two TDs to lead the Bearcats to a three-touchdown win over the Wolves.
Ballinger (6-1, 3-0) also got a rushing score from Brody Wilde in rallying from a 14-13 halftime deficit with 20 unanswered points in the second half.
Comanche 40, Dublin 0 — Zaden Tello ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Nicholas Anaya ran for 139 yards and a score to lead the Indians to a lopsided win over the Lions.
LaDainian Smith added 70 yards and two scores on the ground for Comanche (3-4, 2-2), which ran for 441 yards while getting 82 yards and a TD passing from Cooper Welch.
Coahoma 63, Anthony 0 — Austin Molina caught a 30-yard touchdown pass, ran 56 yards for a TD and had a 61-yard punt return score to fuel the Bulldogs to a blowout win over the Wildcats.
Coahoma (5-2, 2-0) also got two touchdowns passing and another rushing from Austin Joslin, while Aiden Rodriguez added a pair of rushing scores.
Wall 74, San Angelo TLCA 0 — Gunner Garza ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries, and Gunner King went 6 for 7 for 129 yards and three TDs passing to fuel the Hawks to a blowout win over the Eagles.
Caden Sturm, Hagen Surber and Kaden McFarden also had rushing scores for Wall (7-1, 2-0), which got scoring catches from Surber, Slayton Hallmark and Brady Neal.
Roscoe 2, Big Spring Pathway 0 — Roscoe (3-4, 2-0) picked up a forfeit win over the Warriors to claim its third straight win after an 0-4 start.
The Plowboys will play host to Lockney next Friday. Pathway has forfeited the remainder of the season.
Waco Robinson 20, Brownwood 14 — Brice McCurdy threw for 270 yards and two scores and rushed for 43 yards and another score to lead Robinson to a tough win over Brownwood.
Trailing 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter, Robinson (6-1, 2-0) rallied with a pair of late TDs.
Brownwood (2-5, 0-2) was led by Trent Buffington with 176 yards rushing and two scores.
Brock 77, Bridgeport 0 — Holt Frazier completed all nine of his pass attempts for 204 yards and three touchdowns, while his teammates combined for 308 yards and seven touchdowns rushing in a runaway win over the Bulls.
Levi Dean (6-109, 2 TDs) and Bryer McDonald (7-98, 3 TDs) led the ground assault for Brock (6-1, 2-0), which also got 112 yards and two touchdowns receiving from Casen Christenson in the victory.
Hawley 35, Cisco 31 — Jagger Wiley threw for 240 yards and three scores and the Hawley Bearcats rushed for 190 yards and two scores as a team to hand Cisco an upset loss.
Hawley improved to 3-4 and 1-1; Cisco slipped to 4-3 and 1-1.
Seminole 43, Big Spring 16 — Jacob Gonzales passed for 262 yards and three touchdowns, and Buddha Guerra ran for 140 yards and three scores to lead the Indians to a comfortable win over the Steers.
Guerra also received for 67 yards and a TD to help Seminole (4-3, 2-0) build a 36-2 lead by halftime.
Glen Rose 58, Hillsboro 7 — The Tigers recovered from a lopsided loss to Brock with a rout of Hillsboro.
Judd Connally threw for 239 yards and four scores and rushed for 52 yards and three more TDs to lift Glen Rose (5-3, 1-0) to a win in its district opener.
Jacksboro 38, Breckenridge 6 — Sophomore Ryder Davis rushed for 114 yards and four scores and Hoytt Wesson threw for 230 yards and another TD to lead Jacksboro to a road win in Buckaroo Stadium.
Cooper Wimberley led Breckenridge with 128 yards passing and one TD.
Jacksboro improved to 6-1 and 2-0; Breckenridge fell to 1-6 and 1-1.
Haskell 62, Petrolia 32 — Haegen Pinkerton hit 12 of 18 throws for 322 yards and four TDs to lead Haskell to a lopsided win. He also rushed 11 times for 209 yards and four more scores.
His favorite target: Brazos Brendle with four catches for 144 yards and two scores.
Stephenville 55, China Spring 21 — Trot Jordan threw for 390 yards and four scores and Caleb Gleason rushed for 89 yards and two more TDs to lead top-ranked Stephenville (7-0, 2-0) to a lopsided win.
This sets up a huge game at Jarrell for the district lead next week.
Sweetwater 32, Jim Ned 14 — The Mustangs overcame a 7-6 halftime deficit with a 26-7 run through the second half.
Sweetwater (5-2, 2-0) tallied an astonishing 420 yards rushing (out of 430 total yards) with Kaden McCann gaining 340 of those yards to go with two scores.
Goldthwaite 56, Albany 0 — The Eagles (8-0, 4-0) rolled up 456 yards in total offense to remain unbeaten.
Landry Sanderson rushed for 232 yards and five scores to lead Goldthwaite, which held Albany to an eye-popping minus-16 yards rushing.
Photos by Carter Pirtle, PressPassSports.com
AMARILLO — Playing Amarillo Palo Duro with the top spot in the District 2-5A Division II standings on the line, the Wylie football team couldn’t keep pace with the Dons, falling 53-10 on Friday at Dick Bivins Stadium.
Trailing just 6-3 at the end of a first quarter that saw them kick a field goal for the game’s first points, the Bulldogs were outscored 35-0 over the middle two quarters in dropping 4-3 overall and 2-1 in league action.
Palo Duro (7-1, 4-0) stayed perfect in 2-5A DII play with the win, which saw them outgain the Bulldogs 435-106 and score 47 unanswered points from the 4:20 mark of the first quarter to the 2:00 mark of the fourth.
WICHITA FALLS — Trailing 35-26 midway through the fourth quarter, the Cooper football team scored a pair of touchdowns in the final five minutes Friday to rally past Wichita Falls Legacy for a thrilling 41-35 win.
Joel Soto hit Matt Balvantin with a 25-yard touchdown pass to pull the Cougars within 35-33 with 4:55 to play, before Tayden Bender capped a nine-play, 94-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run to score game-winning points with just 1:03 remaining on the clock.
Bender’s touchdown run, which gave Cooper its first lead since the 3:02 mark of the first quarter, pushed the Cougars to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in District 2-5A Division I play — bolstering the team’s hopes of hosting a first-round playoff game in the process.
DE LEON — Through six games, the Hico Tigers had played relatively clean football, building a 6-0 record against moderate competition as a tough district slate approached.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they picked the wrong evening to chart 11 penalties for 110 yards to go with two costly turnovers in a 49-7 loss to powerhouse De Leon.
Lane Couch rushed for 103 yards and two scores and Hud Price threw for 235 yards and two more TDs to lead De Leon (6-1, 2-0 District 5-2A DI), which led from the 7:50 mark of the first quarter until the final whistle.
Hosting Amarillo High with a chance to take sole possession of the District 2-5A Division I lead, the Abilene High Eagles lost the battle of the trenches Friday in a 24-14 loss to the Sandies.
That was particularly the case on offense, where the Eagles managed just 33 rushing yards on 30 attempts while quarterback Tristan Beal spent most of his night running for his life from a relentless Amarillo High pass rush.
For the game, the Sandies outgained Abilene High 350-117, building a 24-0 third-quarter lead before the Eagles tried in vain to rally over the game’s final 13 minutes.
BANGS — While he didn’t set a career-high for rushing yards, Bangs senior running back Connor Bible still put together a memorable night as the Dragons rolled to a 53-10 win over Coleman in District 7-2A Division I play on Friday night.
Bible ran for 244 yards and five touchdowns and added a 32-yard reception for a score to lead the Dragons, who scored on their first seven possessions of the game — a week after punting seven times in a lopsided loss to Mason.
Bangs coach Colton Buzzard was proud of the way that his team bounced back from the 51-0 loss to the Punchers to start district play.
HAMILTON — The book on the District 5-3A Division II football race is that the top six teams are evenly matched. The Hamilton Bulldogs threw the book out the window with a dominating performance during Friday’s 42-7 win over the Clifton Cubs at Kooken Field.
Hamilton dominated on both sides of the ball. Colton DeLaGarza ran for two touchdowns, and Ollie Summers passed for two scores as the Bulldogs’ offense racked up 470 total yards.
Not to be outdone, the Hamilton defense held a Clifton club that came in averaging 32 points per game to seven points and 184 total yards.
Photos by Kael Duncan
MINERAL WELLS — Graham made the most of its limited possessions Friday night in its district matchup against Mineral Wells.
Quarterback Cooper Corley threw three touchdown passes and the Steers took advantage of three Rams turnovers to claim a 29-7 victory in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
While a highly anticipated showdown looms against Brock in two weeks, Graham jumped out to a 22-point lead in the first half and coasted in the battle of unbeatens.
Graham improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in District 4-4A Division II play, while Mineral Wells (6-1 on the year) fell to 1-1 in league action.
7 p.m. Friday, Shotwell Stadium, Abilene
7 p.m. Friday, Memorial Stadium, Wichita Falls
7 p.m. Friday, Dick Bivins Stadium, Amarillo
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games and select six-man games, in addition to the results of our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 54-11, .831
SEASON TOTAL: 351-99, .780
Our Big Country Preps Game of the Week travels to Mineral Wells for the first time since we absorbed the Rams into our coverage area.
And why not? With unbeaten Graham coming to town to face the 6-0 Rams, this is one of the biggest games to take place at Mineral Wells in a number of years.
Zach Duncan will be on hand to deliver the game story for BCP in an atmosphere that should be electric.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
Note: If you know of a former Big Country Prep athlete now performing in college or professional sports, contact Mike Lee at michaellee7@att.net.
Munday’s L.J. Collier is continuing his journey from a small town in Texas through a multiyear career in the NFL.
Collier has made his way from growing up in a Big Country town of 1,200 residents to playing Division I college football at TCU to the Arizona Cardinals, where he’s in his eighth NFL season as a backup defensive tackle.
Collier has played in all five Arizona games this season and made a season-high three tackles last week in a 45-21 loss to the Detroit Lions. He has seven tackles for the season and is listed as the No. 2 right defensive tackle on the Cardinals’ depth chart.
The 31-year-old Collier was a first-round draft choice of Seattle in 2019 and played four seasons with the Seahawks. Collier played in 44 games with the Seahawks, including 16 starts in 2020, when he logged 22 tackles, three sacks and two pass breakups.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches. If your team is missing, please give your coach a friendly reminder to check their email and submit their stats each week by 2 p.m. on Wednesdays.
The Abilene High volleyball team’s final home match of the season couldn’t have gone much better that it did Tuesday, when the Lady Eagles cruised to a 25-12, 25-13, 25-14 sweep of archrival Cooper in front of a packed crowd at Eagle Gym.
Playing its annual Pink Out match to raise money toward the cancer treatment of a pair of local women, AHS (20-17 overall, 3-3 in District 4-5A) seized control early and never relinquished it in clinching a season sweep of the Lady Cougars and securing a playoff berth with two regular-season matches remaining.
Sophomore Brailey Aston paced the Lady Eagles attack with eight kills, followed by freshman Alex Sanders with five, to help the senior group of Mallon Murray, Zia Gravitt, Elizah Willis, Miela Brown, Abigail Weatherby and Kate Breckenridge to a resounding win in their final match at Eagle Gym.
Week 7 featured a fair number of high profile games, both in and outside of district play. Unfortunately, our area schools came out on the losing end of several of the biggest matchups.
Water Valley dropped its first game of the year to unbeaten Menard, red-hot Newcastle was cooled off by Whiteface and Westbrook lossed a tough matchup to Lamesa Klondike to kick off a brutal district schedule in three of the biggest games on last week’s slate.
Fortunately, there were some triumphs as well — the biggest being Richland Springs’ big district win over Cherokee.
Without further ado, let’s dive into those matchups and more in our weekly “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this look back at last week’s action, and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
After only seven weeks of football this season, Haskell senior quarterback Haegan Pinkerton has put his stamp on our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for a third time.
Believe me, we’d prefer to share the love. But with Pinkerton’s numbers, the teen has begun to turn this thing into a game of Monopoly, and he’s wearing the top hat.
Pinkerton, who led the Indians to a 92-48 win over Munday, hit 13 of 14 passes for 264 yards and five touchdowns on Friday. But that’s only the beginning.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 8:
Continue reading “WEEK 8 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Crawford 55, Hubbard 0 — The Pirates followed last week’s win over Mart with another key district victory, bringing Hubbard’s two-game district winning streak to an abrupt halt.
Crawford, which now has the inside track for the district No. 2 playoff seed, dominated the game from start to finish in improving to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in district play.
Gatesville 62, Waco Connally 20 — Gatesville (4-2, 1-0) had an easy time with winless Connally (0-6, 0-1) in the district opener for both clubs.
The level of difficulty, however, is about to rise dramatically with unbeaten Waco La Vega coming to town next week.
San Saba 22, Johnson City 14 — Jason Everett ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns and Graden Lebow added 94 yards and a score as the Armadillos ran for all 300 of their yards in a big district win over the Eagles.
San Saba (4-2, 1-0), which didn’t attempt a pass in the victory, raced out to a 13-0 first-quarter lead and carried it into halftime, before holding off a Johnson City rally in the second half.
Ballinger 40, Forsan 36 — Wyatt Clemens passed for 313 yards and four touchdowns, hitting Hunter Kresta nine times for 163 yards and two of those scores to lead the Bearcats to a thrilling win over the previously unbeaten Buffaloes.
Clemens also ran for 74 yards and another TD as Ballinger (5-1, 2-0) amassed 482 yards of total offense. Pierson Nord (7-81 receiving) and Brody Wilde (2-46) also caught scoring passes for the Bearcats, who also got a rushing TD run from Malachi Bentley.
Haskell 92, Munday 48 — Haskell’s insane level of offensive production continued in an important district win over Munday.
Haegan Pinkerton threw for 264 yards and five TDs and rushed for 179 yards and three more scores to lift the Indians (4-2, 2-0) who are in the thick of the district title chase.
Munday fell to 5-2 and 1-2.
Goldthwaite 63, Hamlin 0 — The Eagles raced out to a 49-0 first-half lead before cruising home for their seventh straight win against no losses.
GHS (7-0, 3-0) finished with 436 yards in total offense; Hamlin (2-5, 0-3) totaled only 29 yards on the night.
Tolar 49, Rio Vista 13 — Briton Rice had a big day throwing the football, and Kelvin Murray continued his outstanding season on the ground to lead the Rattlers to a convincing win over the Eagles.
With his team leading 20-7 at halftime, Murray ran for a pair of third-quarter TDs to push Tolar’s lead to 35-7 by the start of the fourth quarter. And Rice capped a productive night with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to make it a 42-13 game, before Tanner Emery capped the scoring with a rushing TD.